Policies Related to Environmental Concerns Essay

While, indeed, there are several legal statutes that are heralded by both the international, national, and local levels of the public communities, especially the government, there remains much contention with regard to the true cost of ratifying it and adhering to its implementation. This is a dilemma that occurs to be of special truth to the developing countries who are not given the luxury of financial and technological resources to address the issues associated with the environment. Definitely, there are a lot of issues and related costs that are borne with every legal statute passed for the purpose of protecting the environment. From the implantation of it come the associated resources in terms of manpower and other needs. Over time, it has been the case that the cost of the environmental degradation that occurred, and is still occurring, becomes harder to quantify in financial terms. The costs are usually measured and derived from air and water quality as examples (Ahmed & Sanchez-Triana, 2008). However, it should be noted that it is not the financial quantification of this particular endeavor that matters but the present impact and the long-term goals that should be foreseen. First, it is seen that the adverse effects brought about by the inability of the environment to keep with the needs of the human population is already being felt by people. There are different groups that can be identified in terms of the socio-economic classes to which they belong and the degree to which they are disadvantaged because of certain characteristics. The benefits that could be derived from the simple laws that protect their basic needs such as the access to clean water vary from one group to another. Another consideration for this is that the impacts have led to a domino-effect where it has indirectly affected the entire society and should the provision of safety nets through legal policies are definitely an urgent need to solve several interlocking problems that have come in lieu of the environmental degradation. Second, the long-term effects brought about by the legal statutes would definitely help not only the generations in immediate succession of the present but would also last until a few more decades, if not centuries (Gillespie, 1997). Every little act of kindness done to the environment in the present contributes to its well-being and existence in the future. This is among the elements that link the past to the present and the present to the future. References Ahmed, K. & Sanchez-Triana, E. (2008). Strategic environmental assessment for policies: An instrument for good governance. Washington, DC: The World Bank. Gillespie, A. (1997). International environmental law, policy, and ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.